Shells Poem by Della Perry

Stepping along the golden sands
Stooping to collect pink and beige shells
Took me straight back to my youth
When we did this together.
It always seemed sunny when we were on holidays
It was always a joyous time
Mostly because you were there too.
What changed?
We grew to adulthood
With our own families and jobs.
No time for each other anymore
Not because we don't wish too, but time isn't enough.
The sun doesn't shine so often anymore
We are preoccupied with surviving to see it shine.
The sand smells putrid nearer the sea
But it feels like coming home
It is familiar to me.
I miss our laughter as we ran through the froth
Young and carefree.
I pick up the shells, run sand through my fingers
Place them in a tiny bag.
I watch my own boys playing, laughing as we did once,
Carefree, young, and I am slightly jealous of them
I hope they keep in touch.
I wish we didn't have to grow up
But we do, time rolls in like the ocean's tide
Pulling us along with it
Now it is their time
Ours is but memories.